


Could've Gone Worse

by orphan_account



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Academy Era, Gen, M/M, breakdowns after achieving goals etc, pre-relationship if you squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-09
Updated: 2013-08-09
Packaged: 2017-12-22 21:54:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/918467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It can take a bit for childhood delinquents to get past receiving a brand new flagship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Could've Gone Worse

**Author's Note:**

> Sometimes it helps to smoosh your face against something cold to remind yourself that you do exist and this isn't some weird dream/afterlife/whatever, all Taylor Swift-related jokes aside.  
> I have yet to wrap my mind around the concept of proper characterisation. Also titles.

He managed to keep his composure the whole way from the Admiral Archer's office to the dorm building. He made it all the way into his dorm, managed to shrug off his uniform shirt and tug on a certifiably non-regulation one, before walking to the bathroom and sitting on the cold ground.

Stunned and still in a state of shock, Jim lay down, pressing his face to the tiles and waiting for his better sense of judgement to come back to him. Or Bones. Whichever.

Right on cue, the cool slide of the dorm door sounded and a worried "Jim, you here?" echoed to the bathroom. Jim swallowed, his dry mouth doing little to soothe his dry throat.

"Yeah. In here. In the bathroom." Jim replied with a voice more croaky than he had wanted.

Heavy footfalls reverberated through the ground, getting closer to where Jim was still lying. Jim squeezed his eyes shut.

A hand being pressed gently to his shoulder made him open his eyes again, looking upwards to meet hazel eyes and a concerned expression.

"How did the meeting go?" asked McCoy tentatively, rubbing Jim's shoulder cautiously. Jim took a deep, rattling breath.

"I - they - they gave her to me." Jim whispered. McCoy's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "The Enterprise. They're giving me the Enterprise. Bones, she's the flagship, she's brand new, why are they giving her to me? There's gotta be - " he abruptly stopped, swallowing audibly and blinking back tears. Oh god, tears? He can't be crying about this, not now, not ever.

"Wait - so they're not suspending you? And they're also giving you your own ship. Failing to see why you're looking so miserable." McCoy's was still gentle, far more gentle than any other time he'd found Jim lying on the ground of a bathroom.

"That's it though. It's the flagship! What if I - what if something goes wrong? What if I manage to fuck this up? I'm in charge of a whole crew. I'm going to be the ship's captain, for Christ's sake! I can't afford to screw this one up. Not with so much at stake." The hand on his shoulder tightened, before another arm was brought up underneath him, gently lifting his torso from the ground to make him sit up.

"Look at me. You know what it means? It means that they're trusting you. They're trusting you with the flagship, because they know you'll do a fine job of being captain." Holding eye contact, McCoy grabbed both of Jim's shoulders, the warmth from his hands leeching through the cotton of Jim's shirt. "You are not going to fuck this up. I'd be willing to bet everything I own that you'll be the best captain the Federation's ever seen."

Jim choked out a laugh. "You'd even bet that case of Romulan ale you've got hiding?" McCoy snorted in response.

"Especially the case of Romulan ale. You're going to be fine."


End file.
